Good
afternoon,
The first Superintendents’
Conference took place this week.
They are going very well, and it is always good have the opportunity to
receive your feedback on education issues that concern all of us.
Next Thursday marks the
second anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy.
I would like to encourage classroom teachers and administrators to
remind, reflect, and educate students about the significance and impact of this
event, with grade- and age-appropriate information. The following website-hosted by
Today’s message
includes:
Teacher Certification
Updates
Activities
to Assist Teachers in Moving From Initial to Standard
Certification
Two electronic application
formats for providing programs and services that will assist beginning teachers
in establishing their eligibility for the Standard Teaching Certificate will be
on line by the close of business on Monday, September 8. This includes the formats for “X” type
CPDUs and induction/mentoring programs, which will be
new screens in the existing Professional Development Provider System. A new screen will also be added in the
next two weeks for the two graduate-level courses. Several of the draft templates have been
streamlined. However, those of you
who have planned your submissions around those documents will find that the
electronic version requires most of the same information. We encourage you to use these formats to
submit your proposals as quickly as possible. Background information and a link to the
electronic formats can be found at
http://www.isbe.net/recertification/initial_to_standard_certification.htm
District
Responsibilities for Administrative Certificate
Renewal
The new administrative certificate renewal system is in place. However, as of September 1, only 470 out of 1,117 districts and co-ops have established reviewers on the electronic tracking system CeRTS. This presents a problem for hundreds if not thousands of individual administrators who must participate in the certificate renewal process. Until the district or cooperative reviewers are identified on CeRTS, they are unable to enter their plans, submit claims for credit, or complete any reviewer duties assigned to them.
District responsibilities for administrative certificate
renewal and the procedures for establishing the reviewer(s) for district or
co-op administrators are available on the internet at http://www.isbe.net/recertification/certificate_renewal.htmhttp://www.isbe.state.il.us/recertification/pdf/Plan_Reviewers.pdf.
We strongly urge those of you who have not created
reviewers on CeRTS to revisit the background
information and enter your district’s information as soon as possible.
The district password for logging on to establish a district or co-op reviewer was mailed with the June 16 memo outlining district and co-op responsibilities. If a superintendent or co-op director cannot locate the district reviewer login ID and password, it can be obtained by sending an email to Rajesh Iyer (riyer@isbe.net). The email to Rajesh should indicate the subject line as “Request to Reissue CeRTS Login ID” and the body should contain the name of the person making the request, the name of the school district or co-op, and the district’s or co-op’s Region, County, District and Type code.
Please remember that district superintendents and cooperative directors must sign in twice – once for the district or cooperative and once for his/her own plan.
E-Mail
to the Certification and Professional Development
Department
With department phone lines now modified to provide only a voice response, the volume of email to the new mailboxes has become almost overwhelming. Rather than eliminate the email service, we have attached an auto-response to the certification email (Certification@isbe.net) and to the responses forwarded to the Department from the agency help-desk. This directs the email author to the website for general information and to the new, and very successful, Online Teacher Information System (OTIS) for teacher-specific information; if that does not answer the question, the respondent is asked to resubmit the question. Once again, we regret that it was necessary to terminate personal phone responses to questions from districts and the public; however, we are trying to provide as many other communication avenues as possible and we appreciate your patience.
House Bill 1180 – Special Education
Extraordinary Calculations for FY 2004
ISBE has calculated how much each district
can expect to receive during Fiscal Year 2004 for Special Education
Extraordinary based on the formula in HB 1180. On August 12th, Governor
Blagojevich returned HB 1180 to the General Assembly with a specific
recommendation for change to add language that the bill is effective “for Fiscal
Year 2004 only”. We have received
indication that the bill’s sponsor will file a motion to concur with the
Governor's amendatory veto (A.V.) in order for each school district to receive
the benefits of the legislation this school year.
The total amount calculated for each
district will be split into four equal payments that will be paid on September
30, December 30, March 30, and June 20.
The formula dictates that:
The calculations for each district are
available on our website at: http://www.isbe.net/funding/PDF/hb1180_district_calculations.pdf
If you have any questions regarding these
calculations or HB1180 please contact the Division of Funding & Disbursement
Services at 217-782-5256.
Claims
deadline for Driver’s Education
Driver
Education Claims Required Electronically and Due October
1
Claims for costs
associated with Driver Education courses offered by school districts are
statutorily due on October 1. Paper
claims will not be sent this year as claims will be required to be filed
electronically via the IWAS system located on the ISBE homepage at www.isbe.net. The Driver Education claim (ISBE 54-30)
will only be available for transmission until
New Driver’s Education Blue Slip
Procedures
The Illinois State
Board of Education (ISBE) in cooperation with the Illinois Secretary of State
(ISOS) has developed a new electronic process that will eliminate the need for
printing 127,000 yearly Driver Education Blue Slips for students who have
completed classroom and behind-the-wheel training. Beginning
View
News Clips for the Week of
http://www.isbe.net/news/2003/newsclips/090503.htm
Robert Schiller
State Superintendent
of Education
statesup@isbe.net